Tel Michal — Yarkon Estuary Palace
Late Bronze Age to Persian (1500–332 BCE)·Canaanite / Philistine / Phoenician·🇮🇱 Central Coastal Plain, Israel
About
About Tel Michal — Yarkon Estuary Palace
Tel Michal — Yarkon Estuary Palace in Central Coastal Plain, Israel is a Late Bronze Age to Persian (1500–332 BCE) tell attributed to Canaanite / Philistine / Phoenician. Coastal wine estate with LB palatial winepress and Persian fort on kurkar ridge. Herzliya coastal ridge with LB Cypriot imports and 10th c. BCE Philistine winepress.
Why it mattersKey Levantine tell with multi-period stratigraphy informing chronology of the Central Coastal Plain
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Stratigraphic sequence
- 02Biblical identification debated
Theories
- 01Border fortress model
- 02Trade route control
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 1500 BCE
- Period
- Late Bronze Age to Persian (1500–332 BCE)
- Culture
- Canaanite / Philistine / Phoenician
- Purpose
- Coastal wine estate with LB palatial winepress and Persian fort on kurkar ridge
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 1500 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1925 CE
Woolley/Petrie survey
On the ground
Structures & features
32.1800° N · 34.7960° E · 15 m · 3 mapped features
Tel Michal — Yarkon Estuary Palace — Summit Citadel
citadelCitadel or summit fort on tell
32.1801° N · 34.7961° ETel Michal — Yarkon Estuary Palace — Glacis and Wall Circuit
glacisOuter fortification glacis
32.1798° N · 34.7961° ETel Michal — Yarkon Estuary Palace — Lower Town / Cemetery
lower townExtension settlement or cemetery
32.1804° N · 34.7958° E